Search results for ""taylor francis""

X-Ray Lasers 2004 comprises invited, contributed, and poster papers presented at the 9th International Conference on X-Ray Lasers (ICXRL2004) held in Beijing in May 2004. Some 120 participants from 13 countries and regions met in Beijing to compare results and exchange views on future developments in x-ray lasers and related fields.The book covers the following topics: overviews of x-ray lasers research, collisionally pumped x-ray lasers, capillary discharge-pumped x-ray lasers, OFI and photo-pumped x-ray lasers, high-order harmonics XUV radiation, grazing incidence pumping x-ray lasers, theory and simulations of x-ray lasers and plasma media, free-electron lasers and accelerator-based x-ray sources, alternative pumping schemes for x-ray lasers, applications of x-ray lasers and other bright x-ray sources, x-ray optics and instrumentation, investigations of x-ray laser media, and developments of x-ray laser drivers. X-Ray Lasers 2004 provides not only an overview and an up-to-date progress report on this fast moving field, but also important reference material on which future work can be built.

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Fluctuations in scattered waves limit the performance of imaging and remote sensing systems that operate on all wavelengths of the electromagnetic spectrum. To better understand these fluctuations, Modeling Fluctuations in Scattered Waves provides a practical guide to the phenomenology, mathematics, and simulation of non-Gaussian noise models and discusses how they can be used to characterize the statistics of scattered waves.Through their discussion of mathematical models, the authors demonstrate the development of new sensing techniques as well as offer intelligent choices that can be made for system analysis. Using experimental results and numerical simulation, the book illustrates the properties and applications of these models. The first two chapters introduce statistical tools and the properties of Gaussian noise, including results on phase statistics. The following chapters describe Gaussian processes and the random walk model, address multiple scattering effects and propagation through an extended medium, and explore scattering vector waves and polarization fluctuations. Finally, the authors examine the generation of random processes and the simulation of wave propagation.Although scattered wave fluctuations are sources of information, they can hinder the performance of imaging and remote sensing systems. By providing experimental data and numerical models, this volume aids you in evaluating and improving upon the performance of your own systems.

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Containing the Proceedings of the Third International Conference on Physics Beyond the Standard Model, this book reports the latest experimental and theoretical results and ideas in this exciting field, at the interface between particle physics, astrophysics, and nuclear physics. Taken as a whole, this book presents an overview of the current status of the field and a valuable analysis of future trends in theory and experimental approaches across particle astrophysics.

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One of the most enduring elements in theoretical physics has been group theory. GROUP 24: Physical and Mathematical Aspects of Symmetries provides an important selection of informative articles describing recent advances in the field. The applications of group theory presented in this book deal not only with the traditional fields of physics, but also include such disciplines as chemistry and biology.Awarded the Wigner Medal and the Weyl Prize, respectively, H.J. Lipkin and E. Frenkel begin the volume with their contributions. Plenary session contributions are represented by 18 longer articles, followed by nearly 200 shorter articles. The book also presents coherent states, wavelets, and applications and quantum group theory and integrable systems in two separate sections.As a record of an international meeting devoted to the physical and mathematical aspects of group theory, GROUP 24: Physical and Mathematical Aspects of Symmetries constitutes an essential reference for all researchers interested in various current developments related to the important concept of symmetry.

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Diffractional Optics of Millimetre Waves combines those elements of diffraction theory normally associated with optics, including Gaussian beams, lenses, and mirrors, and extends them into the micro- and millimetre wavelength range. In this regime there are a number of applications in devices, such as automobile proximity sensors, satellite-TV receiving antennae, and non-destructive testing systems. Researchers working in these areas would benefit from greater understanding of the diffraction phenomena involved. A translated and updated version of the authors' book Diffraction Quasioptics, this book will present results formerly unavailable in the general literature.

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The Correspondence of John Flamsteed: The First Astronomer Royal, Three Volume Set explores the work of Flamsteed through his letters.The first volume serves as an essential guide to the exciting developments in scientific thinking that occurred during the seventeenth century by supplementing the published correspondence of Isaac Newton and Henry Oldenburg. It will be an invaluable research tool, not only for historians of astronomy, but also for researchers examining how scientific thought developed.The second volume contains the letters Flamsteed wrote and received from June 1682 to the spring of 1703. A leading figure in the final phases of the seventeenth-century scientific revolution, his extensive correspondence with 129 British and foreign scholars touches on many of the scientific discussions of the day. Some of these exchanges involved established correspondents, chiefly Newton and Wallis, but members of a younger generation, such as Stephen Gray, William Derha

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The Restless Universe: Applications of Gravitational N-Body Dynamics to Planetary Stellar and Galactic Systems stimulates the cross-fertilization of ideas, methods, and applications among the different communities who work in the gravitational N-body problem arena, across diverse fields of astrophysics. The chapters and topics cover three broad themes: the dynamics of the solar system, the dynamics of galaxies and star clusters, and the large scale structure of the universe. The book is essential reading for scientists and graduate students studying N-body dynamics, from the fundamental techniques to the cutting edge of modern research in planetary, stellar, and galactic systems.

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The Correspondence of John Flamsteed discusses this leading figure in the final phases of the seventeenth-century scientific revolution, presents his extensive correspondence with 129 British and foreign scholars all over the world, and touches on many of the scientific discussions of the day. This book, the last volume of the set, contains his letters from number 901 to 1515.

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Updated and expanded from the original Japanese edition, Laser-Aided Diagnostics of Gases and Plasmas takes a unique approach in treating laser-aided diagnostics. The book unifies the subject by joining applications instead of describing each application as a totally separate system. In taking this approach, it highlights the relative strengths of each method and shows how they can complement each other in the study of gases and plasmas.The first part of the book presents a general introduction to the laser-aided study of gases and plasmas, including the various principles and hardware needed for each method, while the second part describes the applications of each general system in detail.Beneficial to a wide spectrum of academic and industrial researchers, this book provides a solid examination of the various options and methods available when involved in the analysis and diagnostics of gases and plasmas.

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In these days of ever-increasing specialization, it is important to gain a broad appreciation of the subject. With this in mind, Naturally Speaking: A Dictionary of Quotations on Biology, Botany, Nature and Zoology, Second Edition presents the largest compilation of published quotations on the natural world available so that readers can get a feel for the depth and breadth of natural history and the life sciences. The book contains the words and wisdom of several hundred scientists, writers, philosophers, poets, and academicians. The bibliography is useful for readers who want to search for more details about the quotations listed while the extensive author and subject indexes provide the perfect tool for locating quotations. This book can be read for entertainment or used as an informative, handy reference.

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This text brings together topical contributions from figures in the field of games and simulations, representing the current international thinking and best practice.

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* Provides insight into chemical defects in cystalline solids* Progresses from a discussion of simple concepts to more complex material* Emphasizes the relationship between basic principles and device applications* References current research and experimental results and includes applications throughout the text* Links principles and applications with a series of case studies

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Office workers form a large and growing proportion of the workforce, especially with the growth of the service sector. Almost all of us work in computerised offices, and have become strongly attached to these machines. We wish to be productive and successful, satisfied with our work, get along with our fellow workers; we do not want to suffer aches in wrists, shoulders or back, or any headaches. This is a practical book, but it is based on sound theory and research. It is written for the practitioner: the office manager, the equipment purchaser, the designer and architect and especially for the individual office worker, for you and me who operate keyboards, check and make files, phone and fax, sit and stand, write and read, who discuss and evaluate , and prepare for decisions. We need to know how to set up the office, how to select and arrange our equipment and furniture, how to organise and pace our work. We need to perform 'at ease and efficiently', which is the motto of ergonomics

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This ground-breaking book represents the work of a variety of researchers in information systems that share a common concern to use philosophical approaches to help solve problems in information systems. It brings together many of the leading researchers in the field and provides a broad-based range of chapters addressing key contemporary issues in the field. It looks at philosophical and social implications of the development of IS, relates these issues to the role IS plays in contemporary business and cultural theory, and discussed IS in a social and philosophical context, rather than simply as technology.

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Throughout the nineteenth century the British Empire was the subject of much writing; floods of articles, books and government reports were produced about the areas under British control and the policy of imperialism. Mid-Victorian Imperialists investigates how the Victorians made sense of all the information regarding the empire by examining the writings of a collection of gentlemen who were amongst the first people to join the Colonial Society in 1868-69. These men included imperial officials, leading settlers, British politicians and writers, and Beasley looks at the common trends in their beliefs about the British Empire and how their thoughts changed during their lives to show how Mid-Victorian theories of racial, cultural and political classification arose.

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This is an examination, from a feminist historian's standpoint, of the background to the present system of regulating prostitution in Britain - which is generally admitted to be not only unjust and discriminatory, but ineffective even in achieving its stated aims. Concentrating on the 1950s, and especially on the Wolfenden Report and the 1959 Street Offences Act, it is a thorough exposure of the sexual double standard and general misogynist assumptions underlying legislation relating to prostitution. In addition to the detailed analysis of the 1950s legislation and the background to it, there is an exposition of the subsequent workings of the Act, and of attempts to amend or repeal it.

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As mankind finds ever more impious ways to kill and maim, some look to non-lethal weapons as a fix. Brian Rappert discusses the technologies involved and the ethics of, for example blinding someone with a laser, leaving them blind forever, versus killing them outright.

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This work examines the construction of post-Soviet political space, geopolitical discourses and boundaries in Estonia. Making use of innovative methodological solutions such as Q-methodology, its analysis includes in-depth interviews that elucidate a variety of issues through human experience and subjective perception, such as Estonian-Russian border disputes of the 1990s, inter-ethnic issues and national integration and security.As Estonia is one of the frontline EU accession countries and is queuing for membership of NATO, the book raises broad questions of post-Soviet geopolitics in the Baltic region and across Europe. Indeed, Pami Aalto argues that small states such as Estonia should be understood as active participants in post-Soviet and European geopolitics, and not simply pawns in a superpower environment.

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Bringing together research on different features of the democratic renewal agenda to investigate how local authorities are responding, this text includes a contribution from the main architect of the modernization, Local Government Minister Hilary Armstrong.

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This volume features key political issues for 1990s Britain: the reform of the Labour party; the use of opinion polls; the impact of the media; European integration; Scotland and regional trends; and the bases of party support.

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First Published in 2004. The most striking change in British politics, during the seventies and early eighties, was the undermining and then the end of the post-war British consensus. That consensus had been long in decline before the final seals were set by Mrs Thatcher’s victories in 1979 and 1983. The consensus, and the end itself, had profound effects on the British polity: they unsettled the distribution of power within the political parties (and hence the working of the institutions of the government); the direction of economic policy, the character of local government, and relations between government and interest groups were transformed. What accounts for the ending, in the mid-1970s of the ‘policy consensus’ which characterised British politics for most of the post-war period? The essays in this collection seek to explore the causes, and some of the consequences, of this breakdown.

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First published in 1884, this remains a compelling and authoritative overview of Japan at the turn of the century. Encompassing physical geography, flora and fauna, history, social conditions, ethnography, and topography, many of the observations in this classic study hold true in modern Japan.

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First published in 1889, this facsimile edition makes available an important historical work on Japanese industry. It is a comprehensive survey of the state of Japanese industry at the end of the nineteenth century, covering agriculture and forestry, mining, the arts, textiles, paper, trade and commerce, including the foreign trade of Japan since the opening of the country by Commodore Perry in 1854.

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Classic and Contemporary Readings in Sociology introduces the reader to sociological issues, theories and debates, providing extracts of primary source material, from both classical and contemporary theorists. Theorists are examined within their historical and sociological framework and the text provides an analysis of developments in sociological thought and research. The text is divided into four main sections: Part One, Origins and Concepts, surveys the history of the discipline of sociology and examines key themes which have influenced sociological theorising and investigation, in particular, social control, culture and socialisation. Parts Two and Four, Sociological Theories and Sociological Research, include a number of readings from the founding theorists and investigators, including Auguste Comte, Emile Durkheim, Karl Marx, Max Weber and Charles Booth, and also include more recent theoretical writing and research approaches. The focus on theory and research is extended by a selection of readings centred around the theme of Differences and Inequalities (Part Three); these readings provide students with examples of work from an area where sociological theorising and research has been widely applied.

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This volume constitutes the proceedings of a conference on functional analysis and its applications, which took place in India during December 1996. Topics include topological vector spaces, Banach algebras, meromorphic functions, partial differential equations, variational equations and inequalities, optimization, wavelets, elastroplasticity, numerical integration, fractal image compression, reservoir simulation, forest management, and industrial maths.

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This text gives a self-contained and detailed treatment of presently known results, and new theorems on hyperbolicity, shadowing, complicated motion, and robustness. The book is intended to provide a dependable reference for researchers wishing to apply such results. This book will be of particular interest to researchers and students interested in dynamical systems, particularly in noninvertible maps and infinite dimensional semi-flows or maps and global analysis.

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This research note presents a complete treatment of the connection between topological circle planes and topological generalized quadrangles. The author uses this connection to provide a better understanding of the relationships between different types of circle planes and to solve a topological version of the problem of Apollonius. Topological Circle Planes and Topological Quadrangles begins with a foundation in classical circle planes and the real symmetric generalized quadrangle and the connection between them. This provides a solid base from which the author offers a more generalized exploration of the topological case. He also compares this treatment to the finite case. Subsequent chapters examine Laguerre, Möbius, and Minkowski planes and their respective relationships to antiregular quadrangles. The author addresses the Lie geometry of each and discuss the relationships of circle planes-the "sisters" of Möbius, Laguerre, and Minkowski planes - and concludes by solving a topological version of the problem of Apollonius in Laguerre, Möbius, and Minkowski planes.The treatment offered in this volume offers complete coverage of the topic. The first part of the text is accessible to anyone with a background in analytic geometry, while the second part requires basic knowledge in general and algebraic topology. Researchers interested in geometry-particularly in topological geometry-will find this volume intriguing and informative. Most of the results presented are new and can be applied to various problems in the field of topological circle planes.Features

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Despite the ubiquity of new forms of communication technology, press conferences remain a vital way for companies to share news. One size or message does not fit all and the content showcased must be of interest to every member of the audience. This book highlights the importance of understanding the needs of those who will attend; an ever-more critical skill as stretched editorial teams make it increasingly difficult to lure journalists from their desks. In the international press arena, journalists from different countries have particular needs and can react differently to the same situation. The authors show that to ensure success, PR professionals need to take account of the event, speakers, style, content and tone; and follow through to the all-important tasks of obtaining feedback and analysing results. How to Manage a Successful Press Conference is essential reading for PR teams working in a national or, particularly, an international environment and enables you to address the whole range of activities necessary for success, from the basics through to advanced issues such as managing press expectations across borders and cultures.

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This book reviews current health risk communication strategies, and examines and assesses the technical and psycho-sociological tools available to support risk communication plans. It brings together approaches to risk communication from a number of countries and describes the techniques, including drama, storytelling and scenarios that are used to identify and prioritise key communication issues, and to identify policy responses. The book also provides a review of the methods and tools available for risk assessment, risk communication and priority setting, which are relevant not only to practitioners but to health planning more generally, and to many other areas of public health and policy. The discussion of these techniques is supported by case studies, and is concluded by a chapter reflecting on the conceptual and research issues that still need to be addressed. It also proposes new directions for risk communication that key into the public imagination with the aim of gaining their trust and confidence in the risk messages. Communicating Health Risks to the Public: A Global Perspective brings together a wide variety of perspectives on risk communication, from the perspectives of health, anthropology, psychology, and media. It should be of interest not only to those involved in risk assessment or communication but to anyone interested in the role of science and the media in the political process.

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Accounting irregularities are at the heart of those kinds of frauds that hit financial statements and include misstatement, misclassification as well as misrepresentation. In essence, they involve manipulation of accounting data, description or disclosure in order to distort the true financial picture of the organization in question. This book provides an in-depth practical reference, designed for litigators, investigators, auditors, accountants and other professionals who need to understand and combat accounting irregularities and to uphold the integrity of financial statements. Regulators will find this book an essential source of ideas and references when considering reforms. Educators and students will see this book as an alternative, inspiring way of understanding accounting and how to stay alert for accounting irregularities. The first two chapters introduce the basics of accounting irregularities in the context of the financial reporting environments, and generally accepted accounting principles in the UK and Hong Kong. Perpetrators often seek ways to creating financial illusions in four common directions - selling more, costing less, owning more and owing less as discussed in Chapters 3 to 6. The seventh chapter considers various ways that perpetrators manipulate the classification and disclosure of financial statements. Chapter 8 explores three scenarios of accounting irregularities - tax evasion, theft and commercial dispute. The concluding chapter sets out the deterrents to accounting irregularities in two dimensions. At the micro-level, deterrents are implemented within the authority of the organization in question, whilst the macro-level deterrents refer to the external environment beyond the controls of any individual organization.

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Do you solve problems in the style of a coyote, competitor or eagle? Recognising the way you approach and deal with problems at work will enable you to identify the most suitable technique to use on a daily basis. Victor Newman’s practical book strikes at the heart of fundamental challenges faced by all managers. It looks beyond the conventional techniques of problem-solving to the underlying process, identifies eight stages and explains how to recognise which technique is appropriate to which stage. On this basis managers can generate solutions at both the personal and the organisational level. A unique feature of the book is a Problem Solving Styles Profile that enables each reader to apply the material in the text to improve their own problem-solving capability.

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Professional Report Writing is probably the most thorough treatment of this subject available, covering every aspect of an area often taken for granted. The author provides not just helpful analysis but also practical guidance on such topics as: ¢ deciding the format ¢ structuring a report ¢ stylistic pitfalls and how to avoid them ¢ making the most of illustrations ¢ ensuring a consistent layout. The theme throughout is fitness for purpose, and the text is enriched by a wide variety of examples drawn from the worlds of business, industry and government. The annotated bibliography includes a review of the leading dictionaries and reference books. Simon Mort's book is destined to become an indispensable reference work for managers, civil servants, local government officers, consultants and professionals of every kind.

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A comprehensive analysis of stratification in rural Sri Lanka, taking into account the hierarchies of class, status and power.

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brings together international views on liability and engineeringbridges disciplines between technical and legal specialists

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Virtue as Social Intelligence: An Empirically Grounded Theory takes on the claims of philosophical situationism, the ethical theory that is skeptical about the possibility of human virtue. Influenced by social psychological studies, philosophical situationists argue that human personality is too fluid and fragmented to support a stable set of virtues. They claim that virtue cannot be grounded in empirical psychology. This book argues otherwise. Drawing on the work of psychologists Walter Mischel and Yuichi Shoda, Nancy E. Snow argues that the social psychological experiments that philosophical situationists rely on look at the wrong kinds of situations to test for behavioral consistency. Rather than looking at situations that are objectively similar, researchers need to compare situations that have similar meanings for the subject. When this is done, subjects exhibit behavioral consistencies that warrant the attribution of enduring traits, and virtues are a subset of these traits. Virtue can therefore be empirically grounded and virtue ethics has nothing to fear from philosophical situationism.

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Rediscovering Confession is about recovering the experience of confession, in danger now of becoming a lost art. It identifies four elements present in psychotherapy and confession: a state of heightened self-awareness, a growing realization that our predicament points in some meaningful direction beyond itself, the necessity to make a relevant response to our situation, and a potential for spiritual encounter that accompanies the process. Each chapter contains a section devoted to practice, with exercises for individual contemplation and experimentation, guidelines for forming a confessional partnership, directions for conducting discussions in a study goup, and ways to organize a small confessional group.

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At the outset of World War I - the "Great War" - Freud supported the Austro-Hungarian Empire for which his sons fought. But the cruel truths of that bloody conflict, wrought on the psyches as much as the bodies of the soldiers returning from the battlefield, caused him to rethink his stance and subsequently affected his theory: Psychoanalysis, a healing science, could tell us much about both the drive for war and the ways to undo the trauma that war inherently breeds, but its principles could just as easily serve the enemy's desires to inculcate its own brand of "truth."Even a century later, psychoanalysis can still be used as much for the justifications of warfare and propaganda as it is for the defiance of and resistance to those same things. But it is in the investigation of the motives and methods behind these uses that psychoanalysis proves its greatest strength. To wit, this edited collection presents published and unpublished material by analysts, writers, and activists who have worked at the front lines of psychic life and war from various stances. Set at a point of tension and contradiction, they illustrate the paradoxical relation of psychoanalysis as both a site of resistance and healing and a necessary aspect of warmaking, propaganda, and militarism. In doing so, we venture from the home front - from the trauma of returning veterans to the APA's own complicity in CIA "black sites" - across international borders - from the treatment of women in Latin American dictatorships to the resistance to occupation in Palestine, from mind control to an ethics of responsibility. Throughout, a psychoanalytic sensibility deconstructs the very opposition that it inhabits, and seeks to reestablish psychoanalysis as the healing discipline it was conceived to be.

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"Progressive educators have always been better at critique than at possibility. This book promises not to ignore critique, but to favor possibility. It is most rare and greatly welcomed."Richard Quantz, Miami University"The editor argues that in a material world, depicted by consumerism, spiritual nihilism and conspicuous consumption, there is need to offer a new vision and direction in education that would promote a more harmonious, holistic values-oriented schooling that transforms persons into moral beings, who care for others…. In terms of innovative ideas and approaches to pedagogy and theorizing about schooling, this volume is at the top of pedagogical discourses and thinking."Joseph Zajda, Australian Catholic University (Melbourne Campus)Education and Hope in Troubled Times brings together a group of the best and most creative educational thinkers to reflect on the purpose and future of public education. These original essays by leading social and educational commentators in North America attempt to articulate a new vision for education, especially public education, and begin to set an alternative direction. This is a time of crisis, but also of renewed possibility—one that offers the opportunity to radically reconsider what is the meaning of education for a generation that will bear the brunt of grappling with the extraordinary dangers and challenges we confront today. At its core this volume questions what will it mean to be an educated human being in the 21st century compelled to confront and address so much that threatens the very basis of a decent and hopeful human existence. Carrying forward a project of redefining and reshaping public discourse on education in the U.S., it is a critical catalyst and focus for re-thinking public policy on education.

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Between 1492 and 1820, about two-thirds of the people who crossed the Atlantic to the Americas were Africans. With the exception of the Spanish, all the European empires settled more Africans in the New World than they did Europeans. The vast majority of these enslaved men and women worked on plantations, and their labor was the foundation for the expansion of the Atlantic economy during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Until relatively recently, comparatively little attention was paid to the perspectives, daily experiences, hopes, and especially the political ideas of the enslaved who played such a central role in the making of the Atlantic world. Over the past decades, however, huge strides have been made in the study of the history of slavery and emancipation in the Atlantic world. This collection brings together some of the key contributions to this growing body of scholarship, showing a range of methodological approaches, that can be used to understand and reconstruct the lives of these enslaved people.

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Recognized as the primary American symphonist of the 20th century, Roger Sessions (1896-1985) is one of the leading representatives of high modernism. His stature among American composers rivals Charles Ives, Aaron Copland, and Elliott Carter. Sessions was awarded two Pulitzer prizes, election to the American Academy of Arts and Letters, winning the Brandeis Creative Arts Award, the Gold Medal of the American Academy, and a MacDowell Medal, in addition to 14 honorary doctorates.Roger Sessions: A Biography brings together considerable previously unpublished archival material, such as letters, lectures, interviews, and articles, to shed light on the life and music of this major American composer. Andrea Olmstead, a teaching colleague of Sessions at Juilliard and the leading scholar on his music, has written a complete biography charting five touchstone areas through Sessions’s eighty-eight years: music, religion, politics, money, and sexuality.

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In Cultures of Forgery, leading literary studies and cultural studies scholars examine the double meaning of the word "forge"-to create or to form, on the one hand, and to make falsely, on the other.

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From the birth of the Gay Liberation through the rise of the AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power (ACT UP) in 1987, the global justice movement in 1994, the largest day of antiwar protest in world history in February 2003, the Republican National Convention protests in August 2004, and the massive immigrant rights rallies in the spring of 2006, the streets of cities around the world have been filled with a new theatrical model of protest. Elements of fun, creativity, pleasure, and play are cornerstones of this new approach toward protest and community building. No movement has had a larger influence on the emergence of play in social movement activity than the gay liberation and queer activism of the past thirty years. This book examines the role of play in gay liberation and queer activism, and the ways in which queer notions of play have influenced a broad range of social movements.

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Philosophy Through Science Fiction offers a fun, challenging, and accessible way in to the issues of philosophy through the genre of science fiction. Tackling problems such as the possibility of time travel, or what makes someone the same person over time, the authors take a four-pronged approach to each issue, providing· a clear and concise introduction to each subject · a science fiction story that exemplifies a feature of the philosophical discussion· historical and contemporary philosophical texts that investigate the issue with rigor, and· glossary, plot profiles of pertinent science fiction stories and films, and questions for further reflection.Philosophy Through Science Fiction includes stories from contemporary science fiction writers including Greg Egan and Mike Resnick, as well as from classic authors like Philip K. Dick and Robert Heinlein. Philosophy readings include historical pieces by René Descartes and David Hume, and contemporary pieces by John Searle and Mary Midgley.

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This book is a concise overview of the recent history of U.S.-Central American relations. Part of the Contemporary Inter-American Relations series edited by Jorge Dominguez and Rafael Fernandez de Castro, it focuses on the relations between the U.S. and this region since the end of the Cold War. The volume considers economic relations between the two regions, presenting pertinent information on the Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA). It also looks at political issues such as military cooperation, security issues, the drug trade and organized crime, democracy in the region, and migration. Finally, it concludes with an assessment of the direction US-Central American relations are taking at present, moving beyond the black-and-white challenges of Soviet domination in the region to address post-9/11 security concerns.The United States and Central America will be of interest to students and scholars of foreign policy, Latin American politics and politics and international relations in general.

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Lack of reading proficiency is a barrier to understanding the academic content of any discipline. Effective Practice for Adolescents with Reading and Literacy Challenges provides secondary teachers with the knowledge and the strategies they need to improve their students' reading skills. Editors Denti and Guerin present a comprehensive collection of articles by a selection of prominent literacy and education researchers that provide practical approaches to improving literacy and offer accounts of successful evidence-based programs and practices that can be tailored to the needs of teachers working with struggling readers. Each chapter includes questions for review, a list of web resources, and suggested small group activities to encourage implementation of chapter ideas and strategies, making Effective Practice for Adolescents with Reading and Literacy Challenges a valuable tool for all teachers, regardless of content area.

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Over a decade ago, Jorge Castañeda wrote the classic Utopia Unarmed, which offered a penetrating and comprehensive account of the Latin American left’s fate at the end of the Cold War. Since then, the left across Latin America has travelled in paths no one could have predicted. Latin American nations from Mexico to Argentina wavered for years between leftism and American-supported neoliberalism, but in recent years the left has experienced a tremendous resurgence throughout the region. However, the left is not unified, and as Castañeda, Morales, and their contributors show, it has followed two distinct paths – a more cosmopolitan style leftism, exemplified by Brazil and Chile, and a left fuelled by populist nationalism that has clear debts to Perón or Cárdenas, and is most evident in Venezuela, Mexico’s PRD, Bolivia, and Argentina. Leftovers comprehensively updates this very important story, with country and area specialists contributing.

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This study examines the way that the modernization and incorporation of the American publishing industry in the early twentieth century both helped to foment the emerging late industrial cultural hierarchy and capitalized on that same hierarchy to increase readership and profits. More importantly, however, it attempts to trace the ways in which recently-introduced marketing techniques, reconceived ideas of audience, and new paradigms in author-publisher relations affected American writers of the 1930s and the literature they produced. Using case studies of authors chosen from various points on the spectrum of so-called high-, middle-, and lowbrow literature, the author demonstrates that, contrary to popular critical opinion, this new publishing landscape--dominated by big-business practices and strict categorizations of audiences, writers, and works--did not ruin or corrupt literature but in fact enriched our literary heritage by providing authors with inspiration and opportunity that they may not otherwise have had.

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The Contemporary Anglophone Travel Novel explores the themes of alienation and displacement in a genre of post-World War II novels that portrays the pursuit of an authentic travel experience in a culturally unfamiliar place. Levin explores two questions: why does travel to an "undiscovered" place—one imagined outside the bounds of modernity—remain an enduring preoccupation in western civilization; and how does the representation of adventure travel change in the era of mass culture, when global capitalism expands at a rapid pace. The book argues that whereas travel writers between the wars romanticized their journeys overseas, travel writing after World War II takes an increasingly melancholic and nihilistic view of a commercial society in which adventure travel no longer proves capable of producing a sense of authentic selfhood. Through close analysis of specific texts and authors, the book provides a rich discussion of anglophone literature in the cultural context of the twentieth-century. It examines the capacity of popular culture for social critique, the relationship between leisure travel and postcolonial cultures, and the idealization of selfhood and authenticity in modern and postmodern culture. The study reflects the best potential of interdisciplinary scholarship, and will prove influential for anyone working in the fields of contemporary literature, cultural theory, and cross-cultural studies.

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